


across the surface (leaving ripples)

by Grassy



Category: Vampire Knight (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Minor Cross Yuuki/Kiryuu Zero, Minor Cross Yuuki/Kuran Kaname, Trope Bingo Round 9
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2017-12-31
Packaged: 2019-02-25 20:01:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13220166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grassy/pseuds/Grassy
Summary: Skim a stone across the surfaceleaving ripples of insecuritiesand questions past.





	across the surface (leaving ripples)

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Character In Distress
> 
> Set in the manga, post-memory erasure (chapter 88 or so??? IDRK, I honestly haven’t read any part of the manga in several months except for a few of the latest _Memories_ chapters). A bit ambiguous about whether it’s a missing scene or a divergence from canon, but eh. *shrugs* It probably will only matter if I ever end up doing a sequel or something. (Which, knowing me…)
> 
> Title and summary are from the poem _[Ripples](https://hellopoetry.com/doreen-cavazza/)_ by Doreen Cavazza.

Yori sat on the stone edge of the pool, slumped as _Sayori_ never allowed herself to be. The only daughter of the Wakaba family had appearances to keep, after all. But _Yori_ didn’t care. All Yori could feel was a deep-down cold as her heart sank ever deeper.

Funny, was- was that what despair felt like? She wasn’t certain; it was an unfamiliar emotion. And just when she had allowed herself to truly have hope. If Yori only knew how, she’d grind Irony into a messy smear beneath the heels of her uniform boots.

_Yuuki…_

Not an hour previous, Zero-kun had stood facing her; his eyes blank with a confusion Yori had never before seen, and _not known_ who Yuuki was. The Kuran princess, yes, he knew _of_ her. But he hadn’t known _Yuuki_.

It wasn’t denial.

It was worse.

Zero would never have allowed another to tamper with his memory so. Not willingly. Only one person could have gotten close enough to do so forcefully; only one person he would have been unguarded enough around.

Only Yuuki could have erased herself from Zero’s mind, from Zero’s heart.

_Was this what you meant to do?_

Years and years, of love and pain and laughter and _together_ \- A lifetime’s worth of memories and Zero remembered nothing.

One more connection between Yuuki and anyone not Kuran Kaname, disappeared. Destroyed.

And Yori- Yori simply did not know what to do, how to react. She wasn’t just out of her depth, she was _drowning_. Everything that was happening would only get worse in the coming days.

For all that Yori had very little knowledge of what was going on in their world, she wasn’t stupid. Everything was falling to pieces, crumbling faster than anyone could shore up the foundations.

 _Did you truly want…_ this _?_

She should be in her room, packing. Making certain that everything was ready by when the students had to leave campus for good. There was still so much left Yori had to do.

The night’s silence broke with a violent splash as one dainty foot kicked the water, waves soaking the school uniform Yori still wore.

Again. And again. And again. Until harsh sobs replaced sharp breaths and her short curls stuck damply to pale cheeks.

What did appearances matter, in the end. Honor and pride couldn’t hold her like a friend, couldn’t amuse her with its irritation, couldn’t warm her inside just by remembering.

 _Just how much, and_ who _, are you willing to sacrifice for that man?_

And again.

—

Zero stood still, nearby but well out of Wakaba’s line of sight, and listened as the girl keened in agony. Soft, but steady; the sound of a small, wounded animal.

He knew they had never been close. Zero had never been friendly with his classmates, for reasons that were obvious to those who knew his circumstances. Which…he knew she did. Somewhat.

Even if Zero had no clue as to _why_.

But Zero was missing quite a few things—little things, unnoticeable at first, ways to connect _this_ to _that_ —of late. Such as how he suddenly wasn’t ravenous, how blood tablets were no longer being devoured by the handful. Not to mention the way those who knew Zero personally looked at him. Kaito, Rijichou, Shishou; they were all very good at hiding their thoughts, but he knew them as well. Zero knew when something was amiss.

Wakaba Sayori knew it, too. So he had a choice to make. Go back inside and busy himself with whatever assignment was to be pushed upon him, or- Or he could talk to her. Because there had to be a reason she not only knew what he was missing, but hadn’t been forbidden from being in Zero’s presence.

Another kick at the water, a restless ripple of waves spreading outward from her, accompanied by a sob.

And Zero made his choice.


End file.
